Director of Recruiting Operations

[kchusker_chris]

btw, I don't think Zook is a *bad* head coach. I think Illinois was foolish for firing him. Then again, this new guy Beckman might prove me wrong. (I just hope the proof doesn't come tomorrow. LOL)

Zook was put in a terrible position a Florida - similar to what Solich was put in here - following Spurier and a lot of success. Expectations were high and the fan base didn't like the hire from day 1. Illinois is just a tough job. Like coaching Kansas. If you're going to do it straight up, you aren't going to win. 7-6 is a pretty solid season for them. They'll have brief surges, but for the most part they'll settle back at .500 ball I think. I think of Michigan State in a similar fashion.

[Stumpy1]

I would make Zook the DC and recruiting coordinator. Move Pap to this new role and get rid of Els altogether and hire Doug Coleman for LBs coach.

[kchusker_chris]

I would make Zook the DC and recruiting coordinator. Move Pap to this new role and get rid of Els altogether and hire Doug Coleman for LBs coach.

don't know if coleman would be any better. coaching high school teams in jersey, or NFL europe doesn't really make me think he'd be an improvement...but hey, he played at Nebraska so that qualifies him automatically right? what's his golf game like?

 

Zook to DC, Pap back to DL, keep Els. Don't see that happening, but if Pap would take the demotion, I wouldn't be entirely upset with this move. Our DL sucked his 1 year coaching them...but maybe with Zook he could elevate his stuff...and he's still a good recruiter, which we're short on.

[Stumpy1]

I would make Zook the DC and recruiting coordinator. Move Pap to this new role and get rid of Els altogether and hire Doug Coleman for LBs coach.

don't know if coleman would be any better. coaching high school teams in jersey, or NFL europe doesn't really make me think he'd be an improvement...but hey, he played at Nebraska so that qualifies him automatically right? what's his golf game like?

The Nebraska connection has nothing to do with me wanting him here. I'm not one of those that thinks like that. I would like him here for the fact that he played and coached Lb before and honestly think he could relate with the kids a lot better then Els.

[MichiganDad3]

$40,000 per year? I hope this is just an administrative job. Recruiting is too important for this salary level.

[kchusker_chris]

$40,000 per year? I hope this is just an administrative job. Recruiting is too important for this salary level.

I think when they listed the HC job it was some number like 180k or something...

[kchusker_chris]

I would make Zook the DC and recruiting coordinator. Move Pap to this new role and get rid of Els altogether and hire Doug Coleman for LBs coach.

don't know if coleman would be any better. coaching high school teams in jersey, or NFL europe doesn't really make me think he'd be an improvement...but hey, he played at Nebraska so that qualifies him automatically right? what's his golf game like?

The Nebraska connection has nothing to do with me wanting him here. I'm not one of those that thinks like that. I would like him here for the fact that he played and coached Lb before and honestly think he could relate with the kids a lot better then Els.

I know little to nothing about the guy so my opinion means squat (as is the case 99.9% of the time). I'm not sure if Els doesn't relate to the kids or not. Guess I don't hear much about Els, other than his ST suckin.

[EZ-E]

People do know that Zook turned us down once to be DC right????

[GM_Tood]

I nominate wifi.

[kchusker_chris]

People do know that Zook turned us down once to be DC right????

must have missed that publication.

[da skers]

People do know that Zook turned us down once to be DC right????

must have missed that publication.

It was actually a Co-DC spot.

[I AM FOOT FOOT]

I nominate Ron Zook

this all day

[EZ-E]

People do know that Zook turned us down once to be DC right????

must have missed that publication.

 

I'll just let people continue to think that the only person that Bo Pelini approached about the open DC position after the 2011 season was John Papuchis.

 

Bottom line, Bo had the financial backing by a certain set of boosters to make a "splash" hire. Mike Stoops and Ron Zook were both pretty good possibilities. Mike Stoops came down to either us, Iowa (if anyone remembers correctly Iowa was also looking for a DC that same offseason), and OU and Mike chose to go coach with his brother. Zook was a better possibility than Mike was I was told, but at the end of the day he had a stigma about coaching under the guy that he once coached at tOSU. The way that it was going to work was JP would be promoted to Co-DC and still be the DL coach and either Zook/Stoops would be the lead DC and help groom JP to be ready once they found another head job.

 

But nope. There was no effort from Bo Pelini to find a "qualified DC" at all in 2011. He just wants to coach with his friends and promote and hire only his friends.

[EZ-E]

People do know that Zook turned us down once to be DC right????

must have missed that publication.

It was actually a Co-DC spot.

 

I stand corrected. I think I have the above mostly right da skers. You are more than welcome to correct any inaccuracies that you see.

[da skers]

These were positions that were asked for by Bo after SE was hired as they worked toward what would be needed in Bo's extension for next season. They were not in the budget at the time. They are now. Bo had asked for 2-3 people to help support the recruiting and player development. We don't need or wont get the 22 extra folks that Bama has as assistants.